Fortunately, he made his last one.

The Westfield junior knocked down a foul shot with 10 seconds remaining and the third-seeded Wolverines survived Garrett Brink’s last-second 3-pointer en route to a 57-56 victory over No. 2 Frewsburg in the second Section VI Class C semifinal Tuesday night at Jamestown Community College’s Physical Education Complex.

“We won the game. It’s just hard to get to Friday at JCC, it doesn’t matter who you are playing,” Westfield head coach Nolan Swanson said. ” … Nothing was free. We missed a billion free throws and snuck out.”

The win sends Westfield into Friday’s 8 p.m. final against No. 1 Randolph back at JCC. The teams have each found themselves at the top of the New York State Sportswriters Association’s Class C rankings at various points this season, but have not met.

Bears’ Gavin Smith drives the lanes while being defended by the Wolverines’ Chris Vacanti. Photo courtesy of Steve Garvey

“Randolph is the defending champion,” Swanson said. “That’s a very tough game, but we’ll get our shot at it.”

Swanson, who finished 12 of 25 at the charity stripe, made sure the Wolverines made it to the sectional final with a 33-point outing Tuesday that included three 3-pointers to go along with six steals and four assists.

Gavin Smith, who became Frewsburg’s all-time leading scorer earlier this season, scored 24 points to go along with 12 rebounds, four steals and three assists in his final game for the Bears.

“Gavin feels the flow of the game, how are the officials calling it, where is he getting his open shots, and where is everybody else off of him,” Frewsburg head coach Rob Collver said. “It’s a process with him to kind of feel the game out and see where he can exploit it.”

The teams were tied at 10 following the first quarter. Westfield went ahead by as many as 10 on a Swanson 3-pointer with 2:10 remaining in the second quarter, but Frewsburg answered with a 7-0 run and the Wolverines eventually led 25-19 at halftime.

“In the second quarter, we kind of went stale on offense, and they pulled away,” Collver said. “You can’t spot Carson 10 points because he’ll beat you.”

Westfield extended the gap to as many as 12 midway through the third quarter, but the Bears put together an 8-0 run that included a Smith 3-pointer, three Brink free throws, and another bucket from Smith in the lane to make it 39-34 with 1:17 left in the period. The Wolverines’ Aaron Fuller scored late to make it a seven-point game heading into the final eight minutes.

Chris Vacanti hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to extend Westfield’s lead to 12 again, but Smith and Chase Haglund answered with 3-pointers as Frewsburg pulled to within six.

“As soon as Chase hit that 3 in the corner and cut it to three, I thought ‘We’ve got this,'” Collver said. “We’ve had five or six games this year exactly like this.”

The Bears made it 46-42 with 4:20 remaining, and after Swanson hit a free throw, Smith nailed his fourth 3-pointer of the game to pull his team within two.

Frewsburg pulled to within two three more times down the stretch, but was never able to tie the game.

With 22.3 seconds remaining, Swanson hit a pair of free throws before Vinny Sanfilippo answered at the other end for the Bears.

“He’s the focal point of their entire team. They get him looks. They run him off screens. … Chase and Mason (Eckman) were just in his head the entire time,” Collver said of Swanson. “By the time you get to the end of the fourth quarter after running around all of those screens and having those guys chase you, you’re tired.”

Again, with 10.2 seconds left, Swanson was sent to the line where he made one of two to make it a four-point game.

“To stretch it back to four is the big thing. (Zach) Maguire looked really good when he stepped up to the free-throw line,” Swanson said. ” … We were trying to get it to him honestly.”

Brink nailed a 3-pointer at the other end, but the clock does not stop on a made field goal in boys basketball and time ran out on the Bears before they could foul again.

“We wanted to have the opportunity to tie it, go into overtime or whatever, and keep playing,” Collver said.

As much as the Wolverines were challenged Tuesday, Randolph will likely present an even bigger test Friday. The Cardinals have lost just twice since last year’s state title game.

“We have to be able to defend the perimeter and (Drew) Hind is another animal with his dribble-drive ability,” Swanson said. ” … We’ve done our scouting and obviously we know how good they look.”

Westfield has won 20 straight games in which Swanson has played since a season-opening loss to Jamestown. The Wolverines’ only other loss this season came against Chautauqua Lake with Swanson out sick.

“It’s a survive-and-advance thing,” Swanson added. “We got to Friday.”

NOTES: Fuller had 8 points and 11 rebounds; Vacanti had nine rebounds; and Maguire had six rebounds for Westfield, which shot 18 of 55 from the field, including 5 of 25 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 11 times. … Brink finished with 17 points and three assists; Weaver had 10 rebounds and two blocked shots; and Collver had seven rebounds for Frewsburg, which shot 19 of 50 from the field, including 6 of 15 from 3-point range, and turned the ball over 18 times.

WESTFIELD (57)

Lawrence 0 0 0, Whitesell 2 0 4, Maguire 2 2 6, Swanson 9 12 33, Anderson 0 0 0, Vacanti 2 0 6, Fuller 3 2 8. Totals 18 16 57.

FREWSBURG (56)

Haglund 1 0 3, Brink 5 6 17, Smith 8 4 24, Weaver 2 2 6, Eckman 0 0 0, Sanfilippo 1 0 2, Collver 2 0 4. Totals 19 12 56.

3-point goals–Swanson 3, Vacanti 2, Haglund, Brink, Smith 4.

Westfield 10 15 16 16 — 57

Frewsburg 10 9 15 22 — 56